The present invention relates generally to the field of content optimization.
Heretofore, attempts have been made to transmit direct marketing or other targeted content to customers, potential customers or other end users or targeted groups or targeted individuals. Conventional techniques range from the most basic, and highly ineffective, to the more sophisticated, but still relatively ineffective. Effectiveness, in the present context, may be measured by relating the response to the transmission. For example, if 10,000 items were transmitted and ten responses to that transmission were received, one measure of effectiveness is to divide the number of responses to the number of items transmitted (i.e., 10/10,000=0.1 %). Alternatively, the cost of transmitting the items and the sales generated as a result thereof may serve as the basis of the effectiveness calculation.
Direct mass mailing is but one example of conventional attempts to deliver targeted materials. In its crudest form, an item, such as, for example, a catalog, an announcement, a brochure, a credit card application, a flier, a letter or any other type of communication, is sent to every household in a particular geographic area. Given the diverse population in nearly every community, the response rate to such a mass mailing is typically very low, thereby rendering the mass mailing technique highly ineffective. Certainly, the particular geographic area may be selected in an attempt to target particular demographic of that area. However, no community has such a homogeneous population to render a mass mailing truly targeted.
Additionally, mass mailings are transmitted more to the dwelling than the person or persons residing in that dwelling.
The advent of the Internet has spawned a desire to target Internet users with targeted materials, including advertising, electronic mailings and other customized content. Traditionally, web site publishers either randomly select ads or xe2x80x9cbannersxe2x80x9d for placement on its pages or apply some primitive algorithm for the selection of such materials for placement on its pages. For example, an algorithm has been used to select one of a plurality of different content elements for placement on a page, wherein the particular element selected is based on a simple counter or other simple cycle (e.g., the element changes every n-th visitor, hit, etc.). Alternatively, web site publishers have employed xe2x80x9ccookiesxe2x80x9d to maintain a customer profile. The profile may be based on that particular customer""s history of purchasing items from that particular web site publisher. The profile may additionally be based on which pages that particular customer has previously used. This profile may then be used by the web site publisher in an attempt to target content to that particular user. However, the conventional approaches mentioned above lack methods to implement truly targeted campaigns based on a combination of normative data for each category of products and/or services, in conjunction with the individual preference profile of the user. Existing systems may allow sites to decide on the relevance of the messages or ads. For example, message A may be highly relevant to young females, whereas message B may be highly relevant to middle-aged males. This judgment is performed subjectively based on very limited user information, generally without regard to any content-based optimization for a population segment to which the user most likely belongs. The disadvantages of the current approaches are: (i) the messages (content) are not optimized to appeal to the specific person; (ii) the selection of the content is neither optimized nor fine-tuned based on the quantity of information about the user; and (iii) any decision regarding the relevance of the content is not based on a foundation of a normative database for a specific product and/or service category. In short, conventional techniques fail to accurately target a message or other content to particular individuals.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for providing targeted content to an individual. It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a system and method for optimizing the targeted content to the individual.
The above and other beneficial objects of the present invention are most effectively attained by providing a system and method as described and claimed herein. In one embodiment, the method includes steps of: transmitting a first data request from a user computing arrangement to a first server arrangement via a communications network; transmitting a second request communication from the first server arrangement to a second server arrangement, the second request communication including data representing at least one characteristic of the user of the user computing arrangement; selecting one of a plurality of population segments in accordance with the user characteristic; determining a content, which corresponds to a combination of concept elements, in accordance with the selected population segment; transmitting a first response communication, which includes data representing the content, from the second server arrangement to the first server arrangement; and transmitting a second response communication, which includes at least the determined content, from the first server arrangement to the user computing device. The method may be embodied in a computer-readable storing medium or in a computer system.
A computer system according to the present invention includes a user computing arrangement, a first server arrangement and a second server arrangement. The user computing arrangement is configured to transmit a first request communication to the first server arrangement via a communications network. The first server arrangement is configured to transmit a second request communication, which includes data representing at least one characteristic of the user of the user computing arrangement, to the second server arrangement. The second server arrangement is configured to select a population segment in accordance with the user characteristic and to determine a content, which corresponds to a combination of concept elements, in accordance with the selected population segment. The second server arrangement is configured to transmit a first response communication to the first server arrangement, the first response communication including data representing the determined content. The first server arrangement is configured to transmit a second response communication to the user computing arrangement via the communications network. The second response communication includes at least the determined content.